For the first time in two decades, the Maryland House of Delegates voted to raise taxes on gasoline in the state, but House Republicans walked out of the chamber in protest of how the final vote was taken.

The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee voted 9-4 on Thursday for the bill, which already has passed the House of Delegates.

Maryland has not raised its 23.5-cents-per-gallon excise tax since 1992. The state is on track to run out of money for any new transportation projects after 2017.

The gas tax measure would raise the cost of a gallon of gas by about 4 cents in July by adding a 1 percent sales tax. It would rise to 2 percent January 2015 and 3 percent in July 2015. It could rise to 5 percent in 2016, if Congress does not approve a measure allowing states to charge an Internet sales tax.

"Not a damn thing has been done to really move forward on this. I vote no," said Sen. David Brinkley, R-District 4, a district that encompasses portions of Carroll and Frederick counties.

The bill retains a mechanism to link the gas tax to inflation, but the percent of an increase cannot exceed 8 percent in any given year.

"They are abrogating their responsibility. This is the worst part of the bill," Brinkley said.

The legislation also includes a $3.50 increase in the vehicle registration surcharge. The $17 million generated would go to the Maryland Emergency Medical Systems Operations Fund, in which the Maryland State Police Aviation Unit plays a critical role.

"Supporting our helicopters and pilots and so forth, that's part of the bill I've always voted for," said Anne Arundel County Sen. Ed DeGrange, D-District 32.

Despite criticism accusing the state of over-subsidizing mass transit, the bill includes a study on implementing a voucher program to give low-income riders a reduced rate or free ride.

Another study looks at public-private partnerships to run the proposed Red Line in Baltimore, and the bill creates a regional transportation funding tax force to explore letting jurisdictions increase taxes and fees for local transportation projects.

"There has been a little more money for transit in total spending than highways, but that's been because of an unusual downturn in the economy and the growth in gas prices," said Montgomery County Sen. Richard Madeleno, D-District 18.

The separate constitutional amendment, which passed on a 13-0 vote, is being proposed to try to answer criticism that O'Malley and lawmakers have raided transportation money in recent years to fill other budget holes.

The amendment would require that all revenue sources that go into the Transportation Trust Fund as they existed on July 1, 2012, would have to be used for transportation purposes, unless the governor declares a fiscal emergency and the two houses of the Legislature approve tapping into the money by a three-fifths vote.